PlayBook OS 2.0 Delayed Until February 2012, No Native BBM

Earlier today RIM reported that the PlayBook OS 2.0 will be delayed until early next year. In a blog post from the Official Inside BlackBerry Blog. David J. Smith, SVP, BlackBerry PlayBook at RIM made the following statement:

We know that many of you are looking forward to BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0, and we wanted to provide you with an update on the progress that we’re making.

As much as we’d love to have it in your hands today, we’ve made the difficult decision to wait to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers and end-users. And here’s what we’re doing to accomplish that.

First off, we have decided to defer the inclusion of the BBM™ application to a subsequent BlackBerry PlayBook OS release. We are committed to developing a seamless BBM solution that fully delivers on the powerful, push based messaging capabilities recognized today by BlackBerry® users around the world and we’re still working on it. In the meantime, BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to continue to use BlackBerry® Bridge™ to securely access BlackBerry® Messenger™ on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s high resolution display.

Secondly, we are excited to now be providing developers with the gold release of the native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as well as a beta of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 (launched last week at BlackBerry DevCon Americas). The developer beta allows developers to begin porting their native apps to the PlayBook platform. In the following months, the developer kit will be updated with the full Cascades animation and UI engine that was first demonstrated at BlackBerry DevCon. We expect that the developer beta will generate thousands of new applications for BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

Shortly we will also be starting a series of closed betas of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 with select enterprise customers from our Early Adopter Program (EAP). These betas will be rolled out over the course of this year and are an important next step to bringing our unmatched enterprise app deployment, device manageability, security and email integration capabilities to the tablet category. The betas will be conducted within global enterprise environments and will test the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet solution from end-to-end within corporate IT infrastructures. Feedback and improvements from these betas will benefit the overall BlackBerry PlayBook customer experience.

We believe BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will deliver a great experience for our customers, building on the powerful performance introduced with BlackBerry PlayBook tablet earlier this year. The software update will add advanced integrated email, calendar and contact apps, a new video store, as well as new functionality that will allow your BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook to work together even better.

For the enterprise, we’re addressing many barriers to tablet adoption, including device manageability and enterprise application deployment. Enterprises will uniquely have the ability to manage tablets from a centralized server, while BlackBerry® Balance ensures a seamless user experience for personal and professional needs and gives CIOs the peace of mind that corporate data is secure. Plus BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will provide dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry App World™ storefront to make approved enterprise applications easily available to an organization’s end users. Together these features will help change the way enterprises view and use tablets.

So when could an end user get the new update? We expect to deliver the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS to customers in February 2012 and we’ll continue to keep you updated as we progress to the launch.

Well there you have it folks. In short this is not what everyone wanted to hear, but lets take a look at the bigger picture here. Here are at least three reasons why I think this was great move by RIM.

First, quality control. RIM recognized an unfinished product, and they want to make sure that its complete. I don't think that I need to remind anyone of the previous issues we had with the PlayBook. Props, to RIM for not wanting to go there again. I would much rather they take their time and allow for the best product to come out.

Second, consumer value. If you take a look at the consumer base of BlackBerry products you will see that the vast majority of those people are enterprise level consumers. Which means that they use their device in a business environment or they are issued one at work. RIM wants to make sure that they properly cater to the needs of their enterprise customers. They spend the big bucks and that's were the money is; bottom line. So not having BBM isn't on the top of the list of things to get done. Things like proper BES, and BlackBerry Balance integration are.

Thirdly, developer relations. We all are looking forward to the Android player, and like you I am expecting big things. Among those things app versatility. History has proven that the more time a project is given the better the end results are. Delaying a release like this, means that more developers can get their hands on this and start creating more quality apps. The more time they allow developers to use and play with the native SDK, and OS 2.0 beta, the more apps we will see.

There is no need to worry about this delay. I think its going to be worth the wait. What do you think?